Bob Jones marching band brings good feeling show
Bob Jones marching band practices during band camp
(RECORD PHOTO/LINDSAY VAUGHT)
MADISON- Halftime at Bob Jones football games will have fans enjoying pop music and watching the dance line entertain.
The band will field two shows this fall; a football game halftime show to entertain fans and a competition show intended to impress judges.
“We’re working on the football show now,” said band director Doyle Thornton. “The competition show is more difficult music and not every student will be in the competition show. It is for more advanced musicians.”
The color guard will be in both shows but the dance line will be only in the halftime show.
The football show music will start off with ‘Good Feeling” by Flo Rida, then Ain’t No Other Man by Christine Aguilera, closer is a Michael Jackson tune, Smooth Criminal.
Thornton picks the music for the show.
“I look for tunes that fit a marching band and fit the electronics that we have this year. If you play pop music you have to have electronic instruments.”
The band will feature a new $20,000 sound system and will have three electric guitars and an electric orchestral string bass which will be played by Kathryn Reardon, one of the top string instrumentalists in the state.
“It’s almost a 50/50 match with the band and the electronic instruments,” said Thornton who enters his 25th year as band director.
While Thornton arranges the music and works with the percussion, assistant band director Leigh Thomas writes the drill and puts the music on the field working with 220 marching members. The show is seven and half minutes long.
Thomas is in her second year on staff. She is a graduate of Winfield High School and The University of Alabama and was a drum major for the Million Dollar Band for three years.
“She is very accomplished and very mature musically for a young age,” Thornton said. “When Keith Anderson left we had about 80 applicants for that job and she was the best.”
Thomas was assisted during band camp by instructors from Alabama’s Million Dollar Band.
Band members put in up to eight hours a day during band camp which wrapped up Friday, August 9 with a preview show for parents and fans.
“The students learn to coordinate music with movement and it‘s good for their physical coordination and builds their stamina. In the show they go seven and half minutes non-stop so their legs have to be in good shape,” Thornton added.
Doyle Thornton and Leah Thomas
Thornton said that the new uniforms the band ordered have not arrived but should be in by October and will be worn on the field before the season is over.
Thornton said that band benefits fans and students. Students gain confidence from belonging and that carries over into their personal and academic success.
Bob Jones football would not be the same without the band to play and entertain. The band brings energy to the players and pumps up the crowd.
The bands first performance at home will be the August 30 football game against Northridge of Tuscaloosa.
